Citizens Property Insurance, the state's largest home insurer, is getting even bigger.

You can blame South Florida and the Tampa area for most of the growth, Sharon Binnun, Citizens' chief financial officer, told a panel of Senators this week. “Of the new business coming in…42 percent is Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and 29 percent” is Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties, she said. “We have a lot of geographic concentration" in those areas.

"I thought initially that I would have to thank Sen. [Alan] Hays for all of his constituents subsidizing my constituents on the coast, then I saw your charts and I know that Sen. [Mike] Fasano needs to thank Sen. Hays for all those subsidies," Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said at the Senate's insurance committee meeting Tuesday. Hays is a Republican from Umatilla and Fasano a Republican from New Port Richey.

The question often surfaces as lawmakers prepare to draft legislation to improve the state's insurance market: Are South Floridians disproportionately burdening Citizens?

Citizens’ own data shows more policies are in South Florida – 45 percent are in Broward, Miami Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties – and 52 percent of Citizens’ exposure to losses is concentrated in the counties. But South Floridians also pay 58 percent of the premiums Citizens collects.

Nearly all Floridians would be affected if a major storm wiped out Citizens' reserves because they would pay fees to support the insurer. Hays said if there's enough interest among lawmakers, he would propose a bill similar to legislation he floated the past few years to shrink Citizens dramatically by raising its rates.

Go figure this one and you will see why the rates are so high. Anyone who needs a home inspection in Florida MUST use a state licensed home inspector.
Citizens jobs out it's inspections to local general contractors or paid employees who work by the hour. Where is the certified expertise that all others in Florida are required to have? The fox is running the chicken coup.

All Floridians who have an auto, homeowners, or commercial policy would be affected if a storm wiped out Citizens' reserves. And those who have a mix of these policies or multiple policies will really get hit hard with assessments when a storm hits--assessments that can last up to 30 years.

If we look at our homeowners policy today, we're still paying for 2004 and 2005 storms. I'm really glad Floridians aren't paying assessments for Irene, Katia, Ophelia, or any of those storms that Florida escaped this year.

This is what inevitably happens when governments try to run a business. Look at the FEMA flood program. They become "enablers", so the root of the problem is never solved. And why *would* they want to solve the problem? So they could all go home and look for jobs?

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PAUL OWERS is a West Palm Beach native who graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1989. He covers the housing market for the Sun Sentinel after spending seven years on the real estate beat for that daily paper just up the road. He has impeccable timing, arriving at the Sun Sentinel on the very day that Hurricane Wilma pummeled South Florida. The real wrath came in early 2006, from readers, when he wrote that the five-year housing boom was over. They argued, cursed and complained before grudgingly admitting he was right.Follow @paulowers